REVIEW #7 Escape From Pretoria (2020)

Escape from Pretoria is a film directed by Francis Annan following three anti-apartheid political prisoners; Tim Jenkin, Leonard Fontaine and Stephen Lee as they escape Pretoria prison in South Africa. They were originally convicted for working on behalf of the African National Congress at a time where institutional racial segregation flooded South African and South West Africa. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

The performances from the three leading actors were good, capturing a real bond between the three men as they worked tirelessly to escape. Daniel Radcliffe played Tim Jenkin, Mark Leonard Winter played Leonard Fontaine and Daniel Webber played Stephen Lee. Ian Hart also took up the role of the famous Denis Goldberg. Considering the majority of the cast was English, I think the accents weren’t too bad and you didn’t notice them to much once the film got going. I am a big fan of Daniel Radcliffe and the type of films he has been cast in since Harry Potter. I think they have required real serious acting talent and I think he done very well in this film too. The other performances were satisfactory and done well in bringing this amazing true story to life in film.

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I liked this storyline because the South African apartheid was something I had very little knowledge about and like I mentioned in my review of The Banker, I do appreciate learning something from the films I watch. This also encouraged me to go away and do a little research and I think it’s a topic that we should all learn more about. So I think the storyline does well to keep your attention which is important in a film about a prison escape which has been very overused in modern cinema. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

There wasn’t any special effects used in the film and it wasn’t needed, you wouldn’t want to distract the audience away from the core themes by including obvious effects. The costumes do well to reflect the time period but the cinematography was also fairly basic. So not much to say here.

OVERALL (6.5/10)

In summery I did enjoy the film and there was a lot of emotion in the performances which did get you invested in the characters. It’s hard to believe this is actually a true story which makes you appreciate just how clever these three people were, more so Tim Jenkins. I would recommend if you’re a person who likes films with historical context but I don’t think it’ll make it into any of your top 10 favourite films any time soon. I watched this on Amazon prime so if you get a chance check it out.

Thanks for reading!

Callan